Thursday, September 28, 2006

Hello Readers. Well, it looks like time has gotten away from me again! LOL I really don't mean to neglect my blog. Isn' t this blogging world something? Wow! There are so many really cool blogs out there, and I could spend a scary amount of time just flipping around and reading them all! I am pretty pooped tonight but I wanted to share this new purse with you before I head off to bed. I recently had a really sweet gal order a couple little card wallets from me and she liked them so well that she asked if I made purses. Well, I really don't, lol, at least not as of that time. I thought, "hey, what the heck!" so I got busy and just designed a bag that I thought had the features that I would like in a purse. I took me a couple days of working on it, but here is the finished product! Yeah! I interfaced everything so it is nice and sturdy. There are 4 big pockets all around the bottom on the outside of the bag, and 2 smaller pockets inside. It has my signature rick rack (heaven help me, but I love the rick rack) and I just love that lime green and black together. I think it turned out really nice. I lined it in a lime green with white polka dots and the pockets in there are black and white checkered. I had a thought about this bag...it has a personality a lot like some people-- it is bright and elegant on the outside and colorful and a little crazy on the inside!! OK...maybe I am spending too much time down in the craft room! LOL I have been busy and my sales are picking up, which makes me so happy. I've been trying to come up with some new items, many of which are still on the drawing board, and I've got a few more embroideries done so I can work on some new bagkeepers...the fruit motif ones seem to sell really fast. So there you have it, blah blah blah!! LOL Thanks for stopping by...swing by my Etsy shop and see what is new there. TaTa!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

Hello Readers. I was just over at my friend Joni's blog "My Piece of Heaven", reading about her barn cat Gus, aka LB, and it sparked me to write a little about the cats in my life right now.

I have a couple of new items in my Etsy shop, halloween items, and 2 of them feature cats...check them out - they are cute and fun! The first one is a little black cat in a pumpkin and the other is a black cat pocket, good for filling with goodies to leave on someone's door knob or to dress up your own home with.

We have 3 cats. I know, LOL, I am well on my way to being that "crazy cat lady who lives down the street"! Our oldest, Purdy, is a little over 20 years old! She is getting a little feeble and senile, but we love her anyways. Purdy had gotten a little cranky with the kids, didn't want to play with them, so our daughter begged us for a kitten for her very own. Finally we agreed that it would be nice to have a kitten around for the kids to take care of and love, so we went down to the Animal shelter and let her pick one out...that is how we ended up with Miss Rosie, pictured here with her red collar. She is the sweetest and most polite cat I have ever met. Sweet, gentle, and fat! LOL She definitely likes to eat. She will only eat her Purina Cat chow, and only the unbroken pieces, all the broken ones get daintily tossed out of the dish. Rosie is now about 3 years old. Purdy basically just wants to be left alone to nap and eat ( she is affectionate with my husband and I, but that is about it) so she never really took a liking to Rosie and we were feeling like Rosie was a little lonely and needed another cat to play with. This is where Daisy comes in. I found Daisy at a craft fair, of all places! A gal there was giving away kittens and at the end of the night there was only one kitten left. I went to look at her, she looked me straight in the eyes, climbed up my shirt, and snuggled around my neck under my hair, and started purring very loudly. WELL! needless to say, I had to bring her home with me. Her and Rosie liked each other from day one. They could not be any more different, personality-wise. Daisy is bold and cocky and talks all the time. She loves to play and race around the house, and will eat ANYTHING! She licks people! Yup, she licks people, just like a dog! She will jump up on your lap and lick your face, she will walk by you while you are doing dishes and lick your legs. It is so funny. Here I have captured a picture of Daisy talking to me...isn't she funny?! So now you know a little about the crazy cat lady, Mrs. Kwitty. I would love to see and/or read about your cats. Feel free to share! Have a great day!

Sunday, September 17, 2006

Hello Readers. I see that it has been a few day since I've updated again. Time just flies by so fast, before you know it a whole week has passed!

Here you can see one of my newest creations. Remember the pincushions that I made in the little glass cups? I liked those flowers so much that I decided to take the same design, scale it down about 50%, and make little brooches like that. Here is one of them, I also did one in a bluish purple that I haven't had a chance to get pictures of yet. If that one interests you, just leave me a note here in the comments. I think they are so pretty and feminine and soft! Yeah!

***SALE**** I ran a little sale last night...my first official sale that I put in the forums at Etsy. I did make one sale from it! Not a BIG turnout, but better than nothing, lol. I have decided to offer that same sale to you fine people who read this blog. From now, Sunday Sept. 17 '06, until midnight CST on Sunday, Sept. 24 '06, I am offering you a 10% discount off any item in my Etsy shop and I will throw in a Matchbook Notepad for free with each order. Just put the words "Blog Friend" in the notes to seller area when you click BUY NOW, remember to tell me what color notepad you would like, and then wait for me to send you a revised invoice with the proper price on it. Yeah! Thanks for shopping!

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

It's a special day around here today! Our son Joe turns 15. Like I tell everyone who will stop and listen long enough for me to whine to them, I spent 31 hours in labor giving birth to this kid....but it was worth every second of it! He is such a fine person already. He is kind and thoughtful, honest, and generous. He helps me out around the house and doesn't complain about it, ever! I have never heard him speak unkindly about anyone and he is always willing to stand by the side of anyone who needs a friend. We're proud of you honey-Happy Birthday!!

Monday, September 11, 2006

Look and see what I got today! OMG! It is like Christmas and my birthday all wrapped up in one! I just got this awesome package in the mail today from Angela of Norththreads. She went nuts, I can't even show all that was in there because i don't have a wide angle lens on my camera. There are a ton of beautiful fabrics, a couple kits to make Christmas bags, a new Holiday Crafts mag, embroidery transfers, quilt patterns, wallpapers, ephemera, cards, papers, ribbons, buttons, and much more! I am overwhelmed. Thanks so much Angela...You Rock! I don't know what she is going to use to make her awesome craft items with...she sent it all to me! Make sure you go and check out her Etsy shop, her website, Flickr, and Blog (she is a very busy, multi-talented woman for sure!)

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Hello Readers. My house is quiet... even the cats have all gone back to sleep. I have shut off all noisy things...tv, radio, fans, etc. and am just enjoying the quiet. This is my first day home alone, the kids off to school now and the hub at work. My hubby works 4- 10 hour days a week, so he will be home tomorrow, which is good. I will get to adjust to the solitude a little at a time. I have mixed feelings about having the house to myself. On one hand, it is nice to just be able to do what I want, when I want...have time to craft, eat when I am hungry. On the other hand, I really miss the kids when they are gone all day. I guess I really love being a Mom!

I got two new styles of wallets done this morning, yeah! I have only listed this one in my Etsy shop so far. I like to call this wallet "Frog's Eyes", which may sound kind of gross, but I kept trying to come up with another name, and I just can't! LOL It just reminds me of frog eyes. It is a scrumptious striated green cotton with the "frog eyes" on the outside, and I have lined it with a pretty swirl pattern black cotton. I stitched on some black rick rack with a matching embroidery floss, added this wonderful vintage black button with a little rhinestone center, and added a black and white ribbon that you can wrap around the button to keep it closed. If you are interested in this wallet, please just go to my Etsy shop and get it! Hurry up! *lol* All kidding aside, the wallets seem to be selling pretty fast, so if you see one that you like, you might want to go and get it before it is gone.

Well, I hope you have a great day. I may get the other wallet listed a little later, so check back when you have time. I am going to sit back and enjoy the quiet, and thank God for my beautiful children!

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

Hello Readers. We got surprised by a hot day today. Hello, lol, it has been so cool lately, in the lower 60's, and then today, out of the blue, it got into the 80's. Just goes to show, don't ever get too comfortable, lol. We finished up the school shopping today (I hope), went and got the shoes (agonized scream). Man, shoes have gotten expensive. I am going to have to sell 50 little wallets just to pay for them, LOL! I better get busy.

I finished up this new bagkeeper yesterday and got it listed in my Etsy shop now. That's where to go if you need one of these! I had this idea in my head for a long time...I am a huge coffee and tea lover and have always liked those pretty victorian teacups. So here you go, a pretty floral cup full of steaming ? coffee, tea, cocoa? whatever your imagination would like to put in there. For Mother's day my hubby actually went to an antique shop (I know! shocker, and all by himself no less, lol) and picked me out a beautiful teacup and saucer. I was so touched by that. He really does come up with some great gifts, so thoughtful. I think I may have to make one of these up for our kitchen that matches my cup....hmmmmm. Ooops, sidetracked again! I also listed another new needlebook and a little wallet. I worked on a new wallet this morning..this one is in a bright green print with black. So cool! but I haven't had a chance to get the pics done yet. Will be back with that one probably tomorrow.

Well, tomorrow I send my baby boy off to high school! I can hardly believe it (sniff, sniff). Time flies.

Monday, September 04, 2006

Happy Labor Day! I hope everyone is enjoying their last big weekend of the summer. We are having a lazy day around here! LOL Watching movies and lazing around in our comfies all day. I did finish up a few things early this morning-I got up about 3 hours before anyone else here did-and thought I would at least get the pictures posted. I made this cutey little card wallet this morning...don't you just love this fabric?! I had to make another one like this for myself. I have this one listed on Etsy is anyone is interested in having it for their very own self! LOL

I went to a 50th Wedding anniversary bash for my sis-in-law's parents on Saturday night...that was a real good time. It is always interesting to get right in the middle of a family that you don't know! They are all such a nice, caring group of people who love to laugh and really care for each other...a real joy to be around. AND it was a potluck (yeah!) which I love!, and the food was wonderful. Such a great evening. It was held about 10 miles from home, and I saw 3 deer on the way home too...just to put a cherry on the top of the day. One of them was a fawn that still had her spots, so cute! We do see a lot of deer here, but I never get tired of it. They are just so pretty!

Well, I hear that couch calling my name! LOL I'm gonna go watch another movie and then I think we are going to throw some pork chops on the grill and have the rest of the leftover potato salad for dinner. Have a great day everyone!

Friday, September 01, 2006

Hello Readers, I hope that you are having a wonderful day and have some fun plans for the long weekend. We have a 50th wedding anniversary party to go to tomorrow. Isn't that great? It is my sis-in-law's parents and I'm going to help with the food and decorations. Looks like I'll have to make ANOTHER gigantic batch of potato salad! Dang, why do I have to be such a good cook? LOL! But really, everyone really likes my potato salad and I always get asked to bring it to functions...I swear that my "secret ingredient" is pickle juice- that's it! lol I just add dill pickle juice to my sauce and everyone goes nuts over it. Truthfully, I think that everyone just knows what a pain it is making potato salad and they just sweet talk me into it so that they don't have to make it (the evil geniuses! lol).

I ran across this quote in a book today and wanted to share it with you...it is so true! A person's individual personality and style always manage to show, even if they are not trying. Here's the quote:

"Don't worry about your originality. You couldn't get rid of it even if you wanted to. It will stick with you and show up for better or worse in spite of all you or anyone else can do." Robert Henri

I just really love that...because it is so true. Have you ever seen something in a magazine or somewhere and tried to make it to look like it does there? I know that mine always just looks like my stuff...it never looks like that professional beauty that I was trying to copy.

Well, here is one of my newest creations. Another little card wallet...these seem to be my biggest sellers so I will just keep on making them. That's fine by me, they are pretty fun to make and don't take up too much time. I really like the colors in this one, of course I am partial to green and yellow, AND polka dots! I love the marble button too. It can be found in my Etsy Shop, along with a bunch more of my "original" stuff! LOL Swing on by.

Not your typical English style tea party...but the kind where the kids have had too much (kool-aid) "tea" and are now running around like nuts! I love these vintage style animated dishes embroideries. This one is hand embroidered, by me, onto white linen. I used colorful repro vintage fabrics to border the embroidery and some red jumbo rick-rack for added pizazz! Here's a great way to get control over all those plastic store bags that are threatening to take over your home! This bag is fully lined with a red cotton fabric, there are no raw edges, and I have added some elastic to both the top and bottom edge. There is a hanging tab sewn to the top edge with a grommet in it...it can be hung either from the grommet by a nail or hook, or there is also a loop below the grommet on the back that you can run a ribbon or string through and hang it by that (if you want to hang it from a door or cupboard knob or a larger size hook that the grommet won't fit over). This is a roomy bag, approx 18" x 9", and is well put together, so it should serve you well for a long time. A nice vintage style addition to your kitchen and another stylish solution to your storage needs. I just listed this in my Etsy shop...so swing on by ! Good night!

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About Me

Hi! My name is Karen, I'm in my 40's, been married 17 years, and am a SAHM to my 2 kids who are now both in their teens. I am a creative soul--been that way from birth! I love cottagey handmade things from old to new. I have opened an Etsy shop-- Misseskwittys.etsy.com-- where I am attempting to share my goodies with the world.